Oscar hopefuls in Palm Springs lineup

40 of 65 foreign-lingo submissions in Awards Buzz section

The Palm Springs Film Festival has unveiled the first pics set for the January fest, including 40 of the 65 official Oscar submissions for foreign-language film.

Foreign-lingo submissions set to screen in the Awards Buzz section include Cannes’ Palme d’Or winner “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” by Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul; Brazil’s “Lula, the Son of Brazil,” helmed by Fabio Barreto; France’s film “Of Gods and Men,” by Xavier Beauvois; “Undertow,” by Peru’s Javier Fuentes-Leon; Turkish film “Honey” directed by Semih Kaplanoglu; and Marcel Rasquin’s “Hermano” from Venezuela.

Twelve films will compete for the New Voices/New Visions award, including German-Albanian pic “The Albanian,” by Joannes Naber; “Oxygen,” by Hans Van Nuffel; and “Beyond,” starring Noomi Rapace and Pernilla August, who also helmed the film. The section spotlights international filmmakers marking their debut at the festival with pics that do not have U.S. distribution.

The John Schlesinger Award will go to a first-time documaker, with titles including Richard Press’ “Bill Cunningham New York”; “David Wants to Fly,” by David Sieveking; Spain’s “Garbo: The Spy,” helmed by Edmon Roch; and Israeli-American docu “Precious Life,” by Shlomi Eldar.

Fest has also added a Cinema Safari program that highlights 13 films representing African cinema.

“Our African films showcase reflects our delight at the discovery of a vital new arena in world filmmaking, with the emergence of a large number of bold new talents and singular stories from a continent that has not previously been known for its wealth of cinematic storytelling,” said festival director Darryl Macdonald in a statement.